Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-07-14
THE LAST CESAR.
>ym"lSis IF The TdLedictory address Of Mr.
Pant C"oDJs, If Leohar'to,ra, at tie
rcccdt Commencement of tie W,xt-
cTn M,ryLind COlIege.
From the College Portfolio

From the College Portfolio.
Two very profound thinkers Of England
have averred that the world is retrogading
Like Aristophanes of old, they point back
Ia the palmy days of antiquity with some
thing akin To ecstacy, while they satiriZe
and discourage the present and utter
gloomy prophecies for the future. In Arts
tophanes this spirit may b. pardonable.
Bred as he was, with the idea Of the good
old times Of the aristocracy, and living
under poorly constituted demOcratical
government, we can understand his bitter
opposition 70 the tendencies of his time
Bur II Is hard To- reconcile ourselves a. such
views from Carlyle an9 TennySon. Men
who could read, if they would, on every
leaf of the rccOrd of our times, the prophecy
that ovcrwcighs all possible discourage
mcnts, and assures the present that the
future will be worthy of 1.-THE prophecy,
namely: that We are at the end OF despot-
ism, and can already see enthroned in
civilized government the last man claiming
the august title Of Caesar.
As civilization advances the tendency is
20 enlarge the power Of the people and
restrict that of the rulers. The people are
the sources of the nations strength, and
why should they not also control its power.
The nation is the people, and government
should be the expression OF the will of the
people. II is true that the republican form
of government may not have reached
state of perfection, and there may be other
forms in which the power Of the people
may rule more satisfactorily than in the
representative democracy of the present,
but at least il is vast improvement on
former systems" 1T was an experi-
meat for the trainers of our constitution,
but il succeeded wonderfully well. They
assumed that all men are born equal, that
"a ruler is a public servant and cannot be
born 20 power and authority; he is but a
man.
'lmpcrious Caesar dead and turned 30 clay,
Might stop hole 10 keep the wind away
The struggle between popular rights
and deSpotic power has been going on
from the earliest dawn of antiquity, and
we can trace the gradual development of
republicanism through all the forms Of
government that have existed in the world
The absolute power Of the ruler has been
gradually lesSened, until now he has little
else 10 do than execute the laws GaSsed by
the peoples representatives" Mr.. CombS
then gave the list of republics, heading il
with Our own glorious Union, standing
pre-eminently first, and constituting q
bASAa SAAAnPl1A ~ utneA HaaAc1AS aeSAAAflS
a recognition in their governments Of the
rights Of the people"
But what Is the tendency Of all this I:
What means this gradually lesSening kingiy
power; this constantly increasing number
Of republics: All empires are in state Of
turmoil and cannot long exist. The
I people feel that they are the source Of
power, and that il Is but just that they
should WELD that ppwer They feel that
there Is no truth in the doctrine Of the d.
vine right Of kings-And that no one eau
nghtfully rule whose power Is not derived
Z from them. A civilization advances they
I recognize this fact, and the DAY Is not far
fade into purely popular governments and